Rochester Ethical Practices Board

Organization Information

Programmatic Impacts/Collaborators

News and Beam Assessment

Organization:
Rochester Ethical Practices Board

Sector:
Government Agency

Organization Mission:
To further the goals of the established Code of Ethics, the City of Rochester Ethical Practices Board (Board) was formed via city ordinance in December 2008. The Board is comprised of five citizen members who are appointed by a committee consisting of the President of Rochester Community and Technical College, the Chancellor of the University of Minnesota Rochester and the highest ranking officer of the Olmsted County Bar Association not associated with the Rochester City Attorney’s Office. Members serve a three year term and may serve up to two consecutive terms.

Section 13.10, subd. 5(A) states that the Ethical Practices Board has the power to “establish, amend and repeal rules and procedures governing its own internal organization and operations in a manner and form consistent with this chapter.” The Ethical Practices Board adopts these rules of procedure and operation pursuant to that legislative authority.

Policy and Purpose

It is imperative that all persons acting in the public service not only maintain the highest possible standards of ethical conduct in their transaction of public business but that such standards be clearly defined and known to the public as well as to the persons acting in public service.

The proper operation of a democratic government requires that public officials be independent, impartial, and responsible to the people. Governmental decisions and policies must be made in the proper channels of the governmental structure. Public office may not be used for personal gain. Citizens must have confidence in the integrity of their government officials.

Public officials are agents of public purpose and hold office for the benefit of the public. They are bound to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Minnesota, and to carry out impartially the laws of the nation, state and municipality so as to foster respect for all government. They are bound to observe in their official acts the highest standards of morality and to discharge faithfully the duties of their office regardless of personal considerations, recognizing that the public interest must be their primary concern.

In recognition of these goals, there is an established Code of Ethics for elected or appointed public officials, citizen volunteers, and candidates for public office. The purpose of the Code is to establish ethical standards of conduct for such persons by establishing acts which are incompatible with the City's best interests and requiring disclosure of private or financial interests in matters involving the City. The provisions and purposes of this Code of Ethics are declared to be in the best interests of the City of Rochester.

Ethical Practices Board

To further the goals of the established Code of Ethics, the City of Rochester Ethical Practices Board (Board) was formed via city ordinance in December 2008. The Board is comprised of five citizen members who are appointed by a committee consisting of the President of Rochester Community and Technical College, the Chancellor of the University of Minnesota Rochester and the highest ranking officer of the Olmsted County Bar Association not associated with the Rochester City Attorney’s Office. Members serve a three year term and may serve up to two consecutive terms.

Scope of Responsibility

The Code of Ethics pertains to and is applicable to public officials including elected officials and city employees (including department heads and supervisors) who have the authority to approve the expenditure of funds. Also included, but not limited to, are members of the following boards and commissions:

Community Beam (dmcbeam.org) is a registry of private and public resources (organizations, projects, initiatives, programs) that underpin economic and social developments of greater Rochester:

For the commercial sector, we tend to register startup activities (new companies and new commercial projects) that bring diversification and high-impact opportunities to the area.

For the non-profit sector, we wish to shine light on all the organizations and services that otherwise labor under relative obscurity.

Our hope is that dmcbeam.org will encourage cross-sector collaborations and creative solutions.

While there are a number of registries in the community, dmcbeam.org's distinct value is to pilot a database with a data structure and categorizations that answer the questions such as: What organizations or projects/programs in our community that have purported relevance with some of the over-arching focuses put forward by initiatives such as DMC, J2G and Health Improvements?

This database could be used as one of the ways to explore the capacities of the community. If you are someone on an exploratory journey to learn about the greater Rochester community. dmcbeam.org could be an interesting first step.

Definitions

The following defines the various project phases:

Available - a product, program or service is in production

Develop - program or application is being developed

Plan - idea is solid, stakeholders are identified, and there is strong commitment to go forward from all parties.

Concept Phase - idea scoped out with enough details to give an early sizing and/or to build a proof of concept demonstration